Barack Obama: Israel has the right to defend itself in Gaza conflict

President Barack Obama on Sunday defended Israel's air strikes on the Gaza
Strip, but he warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground
troops could deepen the death toll and undermine any hope of a peace process
with the Palestinians.

3:38PM GMT 18 Nov 2012

"Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory," President Obama said at the start of a three-nation tour in Asia.

"If that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable," he said.

"It's not just preferable for the people of Gaza. It's also preferable for Israelis, because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded."

Mr Obama's comments came as Israel's campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza blasted into its fifth day. Israel is at a crossroads of whether to launch a ground invasion or pursue Egyptian-led truce efforts, and Mr Obama sought to clearly defend the US ally's military rights while pushing for a halt in the violence.

Mr Obama has been lobbying Mr Netanyahu along with the leaders of Egypt and Turkey to try to halt the crisis – including stopping rocket strikes on Israel.

He said Israel was justly responding to "an ever escalating number of missiles that were landing not just in Israeli territory, but in areas that are populated. And there's no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders."

Mr Obama said Palestinians will have no chance to pursue their own state and a lasting peace with Israel as long as rockets are fired into Israel.